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olume 103 • Issue 98 • 8 Pages
The Batt Online: http:// bat-web.tamu.edu
Friday, February 21, 1997
udit leads to investigation of A&M prof
Melissa Nunnery and Erica Roy
The Battalion
Remembering WWII
gs help sixth-graders celebrate the war
[A computer science professor is being
estigated for possible misuse of Texas
M funds and personnel.
The University Police Department and
| Brazos County 1 district Attorney’s Office
investigating Dr. Dhiraj Pradhan follow-
lasn’t the AggieE|| reports from an A&M System audit,
y inrecentyeatiWlim Ashlock, executive director of Uni-
this inquiry, airMsity Relations, said the district attorney
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reviews any records which hint at violation
of state law.
Travis Bryan, attorney for Pradhan, said
his client denies any wrongdoing.
“The question is whether or not Dr.
Pradhan has used A&M facilities and per
sonnel to benefit himself,” Bryan said. “We
deny that has occurred.”
A Wall Street Journal article reported
Wednesday that Pradhan said he is being
targeted because of his ethnicity and his
stance on tenure.
Ashlock said Pradhan’s claims are un
founded.
“[The investigation] has nothing to do,
as he (Pradhan) alleges, with his position as
a foreign national or his position on
tenure,” Ashlock said.
Bryan declined to comment on why
Pradhan believes he is being unfairly inves
tigated. Ashlock and Bryan both said no
charges have been filed against Pradhan.
Ashlock said that until the media caught
wind of the district attorney’s office investi-
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gation, the audit was a routine dispute be
tween a faculty member and administrators.
“ [Disputes] are not uncommon around
here, or any other university for that mat
ter,” Ashlock said.
Brazos County District Attorney Bill
Turner said records pertaining to the audit
and investigation are potentially the subject
of litigation.
Turner said when Pradhan asked to review
the system auditor’s records, the district at
torney’s office sent a letter advising the sys-
► COSGA
tern’s general council to protect the records
until the investigation was completed.
“[The letter was] not intended to mean
Dr. Pradhan won’t have a chance to review
the documents and present his side of the
story,” Turner said.
He said the district attorney’s office will
not proceed with any charges or litigation
until Pradhan’s attorney sees the records.
Bryan said Pradhan left the United States
for India to visit relatives and possibly could
return by March 1.
Dave House, The Battalion
Tommy Congora, a sixth-grader at Jane Long Middle School, jumps over a final hurdle in an obstacle
course as part of the WWII celebration Thursday.
By Laura Oliveira
The Battalion
Jane Long Middle School sixth-
graders welcomed members of
Rudder’s Rangers and Aggie Wran
glers to their end ofWorld War II cel
ebration Thursday.
The celebration was the culmina
tion of six weeks of integrated learn
ing, in which WWII was incorporated
into all of the students’ classes.
Jennifer Austin, a sixth grade
teacher at Jane Long, said the inte
grated style of teaching is effective.
“It helps the kids make a connec
tion,” she said. “It gives them a pur
pose for learning.”
The students studied nuclear
power and the atomic bomb in sci
ence class and Holocaust related sto
ries in reading.
Each day the students studied a
particular date in WWII history and
used that date on their papers.
Thursday’s event ended the six-
week long study and gave the stu
dents the opportunity to celebrate
the end of the war.
Aggie Wranglers demonstrated Jitter
bug and Swing moves of the WWII Era.
The Long choir sang wartime songs
and the students performed a play
about the victims of Hiroshima called If
I Never See Another Butterfly.
Brian Marks, Corps of cadets bu
gler and a sophomore agricultural
development major, said the event
was something he would have liked
to have experienced in middle
school. Marks played “Taps” and
“Reveille” for the students.
“I would have liked to have seen
older students come to my school,”
he said. “And I thought it was neat to
see the teachers dressed up in WWII
fatigues that made it different.”
Poems of the Unknown Soldier
were read and victims of the Holo
caust and Hiroshima remembered to
accompany Marks’ taps.
“It is always sad to play taps,” he
said. “I think some of the kids under
stood what was going on and they got
caught up in the moment.”
Rudder’s Rangers demonstrated
maneuvers used in combat.
Jose Galvan, a member of Rudder’s
Rangers company and a junior con
struction science major, said the
event was a great experience for all of
the students involved.
“It was a lot of fun seeing people
that were that young so interested in
it (the combat training),” he said.
Women in Science in Engineering
OTitVISE host career development conference
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By Joey Jeanette Schlueter
The Battalion
The fifth annual Women in Science and Engi-
Center wash leering career development conference will be
that you doi teld Saturday in the MSC.
^ ! WISE will host a series of seminars and work
tops on professional societies, women com-
uaintances L j n engineering work force and the sci-
htific field. Participants also can attend
appreciateotf ,0 rkshops on conflict resolution in the work-
,, I ...pice and sex differences and evolution,
acy, ea , con f erence> w hich is open to all students
I cant renrt ad professionals interested in science and engi-
e ering, will open with a reception tonight at 7:30.
Seminars and workshops will be held Satur-
tyfrom 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Nancy Magnussen, WISE director, said the
blend of qid 1 onference’s theme, “Adapting to a Changing
crvice. That 1 * ^>rld,” stresses the goal of providing informa-
Thanks Cf ° n on t ^ le c hallenges women face in science
’ tod engineering careers.
I Magnussen said she expects a large turnout
k the conference.
“There is a growing involvement in the confer-
3 E. University 1 ' tice,” Magnussen said. “About half of tlie partici-
268-6050 ants are graduate students, and the other half are
!23 Wellborn > leuRy s t a ff, undergraduates and community.”
The keynote address at the conference will be
given by Dr. France Cordova, vice chancellor for
research at the University of California at Santa
Barbara. Cordova received her Ph.D in physics
from the California Institute of Technology in
1979 and teaches physics at the University of Cal
ifornia. Cordova will address leadership and
women's roles in the field of engineering.
Magnussen said Cordova was chosen to speak
because she is a successful Hispanic who is fa
miliar with women’s issues.
“I knew she would make a great keynote
speaker because she is prominent in the field of
science,” Magnussen said.
Karen Butler, assistant professor of electri
cal engineering at Texas A&M, will also speak
at the conference.
She will be speaking about research funding.
“I am looking forward to talking at the con
ference,” she said. “I have prepared well for this.”
Butler’s speech will be the same one she used in her
address to the Black Graduate Students Association.
Magnussen said the conference helps
graduate students understand what careers
they want to pursue.
This semester, there are approximately 7,200
graduate students at A&M.
Dan Robertson, director of graduate studies,
Students share
ideas, network
at conference
By Erica Roy
The Battalion
Over 500 students from 115 uni
versities will share ideas at Texas
A&M during the Conference of
Student Government Associations.
The conference begins tomor
row and ends Feb. 25.
Brandon Casteel, COSGA pro
gram chair and a senior interna
tional marketing major, said stu
dents attending the conference
can learn from other school’s ex
periences.
“We bring people together to
exchange ideas,” Ca.steel said.
“There’s such powerful network
ing at COSGA.”
Casteel said students partic
ipate in activities such as round
table discussions that allow them
to discuss successful programs
used at their schools.
“People feed off each other,”
lie said. “You leave with so many
ideas you want to implement at
your own school.”
James Dossett, COSGA regis
tration executive and a junior
civil engineering major, said the
conference gives the partici
pants new outlooks on student
government.
“This conference is important
because it allows the chance for
people to get new ideas for stu
dent government,” Dossett said.
Casteel said although COSGA
focuses on student government
programs, other more general pro
grams are discussed. A&M pre
sents workshops on Fish Camp,
The Big Event and Fish Aides.
“Student government is the fo
cus,” Casteel said, “but it ends up
being a bigger picture than that.”
Each school attending the
conference can send six students
and two advisers. A&M’s dele- 1
gates are selected by application.’
Schools as small as a private
school with 200 students and
schools as large as the University
of Nebraska will attend the con-'
ference. Students from Hawaii
and Alaska are also attending.
“It’s really grown to be quite a
major conference,” he said. “It
grows every year.”
Conference participants can
experience College Station night
life when they visit the Northgate
area, Casteel said, and many want
to visit the Dixie Chicken.
The conference also will host a
karaoke night at Bullwinkle’s Grill
and Bar.
Faye Little, a conference dele
gate and junior agricultural busi
ness major, said she wants to par
ticipate in COSGA because of the
conference’s reputation.
“It brings together several
schools from around the country
and it gets students to meet each
other and realize what is going on
outside of A&M,” she said.
COSGA is the largest student
run conference of its kind. It be
gan seventeen years ago when
three A&M students began intro
ducing the idea for COSGA to
other schools.
Casteel said COSGA provides
delegates with knowledge from
other schools that can help their
own school.
“There’s so many ideas,” he
said, “so many ways to make your
school better, and the answers are
at COSGA.”
RHA establishes
judiciary board
said 38 percent of those students are women.
Robertson has attended the conference in the
past and will attend this weekend.
“It has been my pleasure to attend this pro
gram,” he said. “It gives [me] the opportunity for
networking among the participants.”
Robertson said the conference focuses pri
marily on women and allows them to interact
with others in their field.
He said the conference aims to diversify male-
dominated fields.
WISE will sponsor a social event tonight in the
MSC Forsythe Gallery at 7:30.
Entertainment at the reception will include
‘Miz Wizard’s Science Secrets’, written and per
formed by Jane Curry. The comical presentation
focuses on women’s contributions to science.
Magnussen said Curry was chosen because
of her ties to science and ability to entertain
people with the subject.
“She was so hysterical in her show ‘Just Say
No,’ and I was thrilled to hear she wrote a show
about science,” Magnussen said. “We are excit
ed to have her here."
The conference registration fee is $20. The
fee covers the reception and entertainment,
lunch, free child care and workshops. The
deadline for registration is today.
► The hoard will
interpret the RHA
constitution and
resolve conflicts.
By Laura Oliveira
The Battalion
Revisions to the Residence Hall
Association’s constitution calling
for the addition of a judiciary
board and alterations to executive
and director positions were made
Wednesday night.
General assembly members will
sit on the judiciary board, which will
interpret the constitution to resolve
conflicts within RHA or hall councils.
Jesse Czelusta, president of RHA
and a senior agricultural economics
major, said the board will have little
influence over the autonomy of in
dividual hall councils.
“I feel it (judiciary board) is nec
essary,” he said. “If you’re going to
have a constitution you need to
have an interpretation of what that
constitution is.”
Karen Fisher, director of facilities
and operations and a junior zoolo
gy major, said the judiciary board
members must have a thorough un
derstanding of the structure of RHA.
‘As long as we have knowledgeable
people who know how RHA works,
everything will be fine,” she said.
The duties of some executive
officers were also altered in the
constitution.
The vice president of administra
tion will assume the duties of secre
tary and treasurer and the vice pres
ident of programs was established.
A service director was added to
oversee projects such as Adopt a
Highway and Bottoms Up Clean-Up,
a project to collect beer bottles left in
church courtyards on Northgate.
A publication director will edit
the Hallabaloo newsletter which
RHA publishes every few months.
Czelusta said the separate ser
vice committee will allow resi
dents to participate in more com
munity projects.
See RHA, Page 4
The Ba i’i ai ion
INSIDETODAY
ARMED SERVICE: The
armed services face the
issues of sexual harass
ment and patriotism.
Opinion, Page 7
Aggielife
Toons
Sports
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